A Wrestling Blog by Jonathan Orchard @jon422002 With My View from the UK on Wrestling!

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Saturday, 1 August 2015

My Memories Rowdy Roddy Piper WWE 1984-2015

My Memories Rowdy Roddy Piper WWE 1984-2015 RIP

Me and Roddy Piper 29th July 2014 in Cardiff

Some people when they are a child form opinions of good and bad and have heroes like Batman, Spiderman,Superman or get lost in Star Wars and in that battle of good vs bad.

I was no different but for me, it wasn't about any of those super heroes or programs. I got lost in Pro Wrestling.

The Heroes that I saw were Pro Wrestlers they were the guys I wanted to be and wanted to watch. They were real life super hero's and Super villains. when I was growing up you could get a better super villain bad guy than Rowdy Roddy Piper.

I'm here writing this not even 24 hours have passed yet, I heard the news 11pm UK Time on /Friday 31st July 2015 that one of my favourite wrestling characters of all time Rowdy Roddy Piper had passed away from cardiac arrest aged 61 years old.

I didn't want to believe it, I still don't want to believe it Roddy is, was and always will be a legend. a man inspired me, had me glued to the TV screen when I was a kid whether as a bad guy getting in the face of Hulk Hogan or a good guy Winning the intercontinental championship at Royal Rumble 1992 or having an amazing match with Bret Hart at Wrestlemania, Roddy piper has given me so me priceless memories from my childhood.

I first started watching wrestling as a 5 year old boy as I was able to watch a VHS tape at a friends house. From this I fell in love with Pro Wrestling. Most importantly though we only had access to VHS tapes from 1980's so we got to see all these great stars from the 1980's and got an education in what pro wrestling is all about importantly I got to see what a real heel could do and that was Rowdy Roddy Piper.

Before WWF Though Roddy had a career in many different territories with a main one being Portland.

Roddy cut some great promos as a young man which would later become his trademark in Pipers Pit as it was called in WWE but Rowdy Piper was truly Rowdy before he entered WWE he smashed bottles over his head and had promos with tow rope and more. have a look at selection to promos below that are truly awesome its because of things like this why I love Roddy Piper a real true heel and best bad guy ever!!

Click on the videos below to see the promos

I got to see Wrestlemania 1 and be able to see just how wild Roddy could be. Kicking Cindi Lauper - his anger towards Mr T which built so well to a match with Hulk Hogan. I think Hogan would tell you himself that there is no one else he could of pulled off 1st Wrestlemaina with other than Roddy Piper.

Click to see highlights below

For some reason as a child I never got to see Wrestlemania 2 I went from 1 to 3 not sure why maybe we didn't have the vhs I do remember seeing the VHS much later on though and seeing Roddy Piper vs Mr T honestly as I was older I just wanted to see Mr T kmocked out as a Wrestling fan I wanted to see the wrestler beat the actor and the fans at the arena sure sounded like they wanted the same thing themselves too! Roddy was at his best here and with his antics and shenanigans eventually body slamming Mr T in the ring!!

See highlights of match (round 4) below

Pipers Pit

AS I mentioned before Piper cut one hell of an amazing promo and is and was the greatest legendary talker in wrestling. In WWF at the time WWF decided to introduce Pipers Pit a Talk Segment where Piper would have on different guests and pleasantries didn't last long! it would usually end up in a fight or melee but also ended up giving us fans some of the best moments in wrestling ever! Jimmy Snuka and the coconut, Frankie Williams and Roddy interview with Andre at the end where he says "you don't throw rocks at a man who has a machine gun" truly awesome stuff.

Please see the videos below of Pipers Pit and click on them to see various different episodes and clips

I remember being very sad when we got to Wrestlemania 3 VHS and they announced that Roddy Piper would be leaving WWF (We didn't have Sky Satellite TV at the time so couldn't keep up with current events in early 90's and know Piper was back) it was sad to see as at this point i was really sad to see him go but thankfully it wouldn't be the last that i would see or hear from him :)

See highlights of the event below

Wrestlemania 3 with Adrian Adonis

The Next thing I can remember is Roddy Piper Coming back and being on commentary for WWF and I remember him doing commentary on 1991 Royal Rumble for some reason that really sticks out in my mind, it was the 1st time I could remember him being back after his time away.

I always enjoyed Rowdy Roddy Piper on commentary he was always so animated always so passionate and gave a straight perspective, I always remember as a kid enjoying him more than Jesse ventura as Roddy just had so much charisma and it came across so well.

click below to see Roddy Piper commentary from Royal Rumble 1991

Heading in to the excellent and brilliant Royal Rumble 1992 Roddy Piper was back he had his issues with Ric Flair in WWF and they were going at each other but Roddy had an opportunity to Face The Mountie for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. Roddy defeated The Mountie and won and became Intercontial Champion. Then for the 1st time ever Roddy on the same night entered the Royal Rumble as well becoming the 1st man to potentially have the opportunity to becoming intercontinental champion and WWF champion on the same night (as vacant WWF Title was on the line at Royal Rumble 1992) this has not happened before or since and as a kid that really stuck in my mind.

Roddy as champion then took on 'Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 8 for the Intercontinal championship - this is one of my favourite all time matches a remember being so torn before the match and seeing the pre match promo with them both together. it was so hard watching the match as I like Bret hart as much as I liked Roddy Piper and I didn't know who I wanted to win. They both told such a great story with Roddy Holding the bell and Bret Hart with Blood on his face and Roddy then deciding not to use the bell and Bret getting pinfall victory. The 1st time ever I had seen Roddy Piper get pinned - Bret Ran up into the corner and bridged over and got the win - both men shock hands after the match, when people talk about great matches that one is always comes to mind.

This match really set the foundation for me for actually understanding the story of a match and how 2 men could bring out so much emotion. I cant say enough about this - I used to see this match a lot and it just got better over time. When I met Bret Hart in April 2014 he told him that I loved this match and he said "it is always underrated but I loved it, I loved working with Roddy and what he did for me"

Take a look below to see the match in highlight form

Fast forwarding through the years and a surprise appearance at Wrestlemania 10 where Roddy was a referee for Bret Hart vs Yokozuna, piper counts the pinfall which leads to Bret winning the WWF Title

One of Roddy best ever matches was coming a couple of years later.

In 1996 Roddy Piper faced off against Goldust in a Hollywood Backlot Brawl I totally loved this match. Goldust was and is such a unique character and is so different from everything else in wrestling and in society at the time. Goldust had taken a liking to Roddy Piper and Piper said he would "make a man out of piper" and that is how the match came about.

Today backstage matches, hardcore matches, falls count anywhere is so commonplace - people have seen it all. At the time this was so unique because it hadn't been seen too often and both
wrestlers gave so much in this match and it was done in parts with them in the backlot of the arena to begin wit. Roddy was using a baseball bat on Goldust. Goldust manages to get in a Gold Car and Runs over Roddy!

Goldust then drives away and Roddy chases after him in a car. This match was kind of a 3 segment match with the 1st segment already over later they go to Roddy chasing after Goldust on the highway and in the 3rd Segment them coming back to the arena fighting to the ring and Roddy then disrobing Goldust!

Roddy then disappeared from WWE for a number of years and went and Wrestled for WCW - I didn't see much of Roddy Piper in this time as I used to watch WWF at a friends house and we rarely saw any WCW - it was sad for me though to see Roddy Piper in WCW - I always thought his best work was in WWF and thought that he was a "WWF Guy" but after WCW closed down the man himself came back!!

﻿

Roddy Piper Debut in WCW

in 2003 I hadn't been watching wrestling since 2001 I had taken a couple of years away i'm not sure why maybe I was burnt out by it all I'm not sure either way I remember that year getting a dvd of Wrestlemania and it was Hogan vs Mcmahon which caught my attention straight away - after being away for awhile I never thought that this match would happen. So I'm watching the DVD and seeing quite a good match between Hogan and Mcmahon when suddenly out of nowhere Roddy Piper shows up!!

See full match below

In 2005 Rowdy Roddy Piper was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame for everything he had done in his career and what he had achieved. It was amazing to see him in the Hall Of Fame and he totally deserved it.

See Roddy at WWE Hall Of Fame Here

Following this Ric Flair and Roddy Piper teamed up to face the spirit squad they faced them at Cyber Sunday 2006 and they beat Spirit Squad to become the new WWE Tag /Team Champions! For the 2nd time in history Piper held a WWE Championship title.

He and Flair lost the titles on Raw in Manchester England following this event after Piper was taken out by a chair shot before the match and flair wrestled alone vs Edge and Randy Orton

In 2008 Roddy Piper was a surprise entrant in WWE Royal Rumble you can see fan footage of his entrance below - Piper was eliminated by Kane but as you can see by the video the fans loved seeing Piper back once again!!!

In 2009 the Film The Wrestler came out starring Mickey Rourke and it portrayed the struggles of a previous big time Wrestler who had come to the end of his career and detailed his struggles both on a personal and professional level. Chris Jericho took exception to this and stated that he did not like legends and hangers on that were trying to get one last gasp at glory. Well back came Roddy Piper who cut one of the best Promos on Chris Jericho it had so much meaning so much feeling and it is what Roddy did better than anyone else in the business, cut an amazing promo. You can watch the promo in full below please watch in full because this shows you the genius of Roddy Piper on a microphone and what he is able to do as a performer and a great Pro Wrestler.

See promo below

Rowdy Roddy Piper was then part of a 3 man team along with Jimmy Snuka and Ricky the Dragon Steamboat that faced Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 25 were Mickey Rourke got involved after the match. It was great to see these legends back again at Wrestlemaina

In 2010 Roddy Piper cut an amazing in ring promo with John Cena on WWE RAW with a pipers pit segment on not giving up WWE Title to Wade Barrett and spitting in the face of the legends of wrestling that never held that title.

another promo that you should watch in full - Piper is a master of his craft

following this in 2012 Rowdy Roddy Piper and Cindi Lauper get back together on Raw and are able to bury the hatchet and smash a gold record over the head of Heath Slater after Piper had presented it to Cindi - see what happened below

In January 2014 on another episode of old school Raw Piper returned with an edition of pipers pit this time with all 3 members of The Shield check it out by clicking the video below

In July 2014 for me personally I got to live a dream me and my friend Matt managed to get tickets for a live tour Roddy Piper was doing in Cardiff Bay, Wales. Ran by Eros Comedy me and Matt got to the venue early and my friend Matt was outside having a cigarette and said 'Johnny I think that's Roddy Piper' I looked and said 'yes it is!!' So I shouted 'Roddy your the best bad guy ever!!' He gave me a smile and said 'hahaha thank you brother' and gave me a smile and I got this pic below

picture I got of roddy on the balcony in cardiff

Also when we got into the venue piper signed some things for us an also took a picture with us also - he was such a nice person and in the few minutes I got to spend with him he was a gracious nice human being and enjoyed making us smile and laugh. They say never meet your heroes but for me I couldn't asked for anymore he was better than I ever thought he would be and exceeded by expectations of what he would be like.

Roddy Piper on stage in /Cardiff 2014

Roddy Piper last Pipers pit was with Lana and Rusev on WWE RAW in December of 2014 you can watch it below

Roddy Piper thank you for everything you did in wrestling for all the entertainment you gave me. For inspiring me to love wrestling even more and being able the 1st person in wrestling I could gravitate towards, Thank you for everything you did to entertain me, thank you for being my hero.